WeenieCampbell.com
The Unwound Third => Site Announcements, Tips & Trouble Reports => Topic started by: Rivers on February 03, 2007, 06:43:39 AM
-
Tagging threads helps keep the content you post on the site alive and kicking. Tags are a useful addition to the traditional board indexes and unread posts feature. They provide a way to chase down a subject grouped across all boards regardless of last posting date.
The use of tagging on various internet sites ranges from a total free for all to tightly controlled. The way it is evolving on the weenie site is somewhere in the middle, with enough control to keep tagging useful.
Guidelines for tag posting
------------------------
1. Check if there's an existing tag running that's appropriate and use exactly the same format. You can see all the tags currently active by clicking on the horizontal menu bar at the top of each page on the tab labeled Tags (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?page=tagsindex). Using the same tag text ensures the thread you're tagging will be grouped with the others.
2. The moderators can do housekeeping to ensure things don't drift too far and to keep the system useful to the maximum number of people. So please don't be too surprised if your tag changes at some point.
3. Tag like a librarian, remember that tags belong to and are used by everybody. Don't create 'quirky' tags that mean nothing to anyone else. Make sure what you're tagging contains enough information to make it worth grouping with other threads with the same tag.
Guidelines for tag formatting
---------------------------
When creating a new tag please follow these guidelines. A hastily convened weenie tagging work group agreed on these after some discussion.
1. Avoid noise characters like dashes and double quotes. If in doubt leave it out.
2. Commas. Only use if absolutely necessary.
3. Initial and embedded capitals.
"things" should have no initial capital letter:
banjo, railroads, floods
Real names should have an initial capital:
Banjo Ikey Robinson, Titanic, Blind Lemon Jefferson
4. People with initials before their name:
J.T. Smith. Space between J.T. and Smith
5. Tunings. Vestapol, Spanish, Cross Note, Dropped D. Other tunings without a common name, G6 tuning
6. Standard guitar tuning and chords.
Use "position" to imply standard tuning:
C position, E position, A minor position
Chords. Use short form:
Bm7b5, Gm7, Ebdim
7. Concepts. Where a thread embodies two or more concepts give each one a distinct tag.
So a thread discussing creation, recreation and interpretation can be tagged three times.
8. History. Use a compound tag to qualify what aspect of history. Separate a prefix "history" with a colon:
history: instruments, history: social, history: recording
9. Instructional posts: "Instruction". This is the one exception to the initial capital rule for obvious reasons.
10. The word "blues" in a tag is usually completely redundant. If you tag "blues magazines" people will naturally assume it's a tag about blues magazines, so just tag "magazines". The theory threads are exceptions, blues theory, 16 bar blues etc. are valid.
11. Like "blues", also completely redundant are "fingerpicking", "guitar", "lyrics", etc etc. Context is everything, this is weeniecampbell.com! :P Redundant tags will be removed or refactored.
12. Song titles. If we tagged every song title mentioned on WC the list would be enormous. Better to not tag it and use the search.
At this point, and probably forever more, we haven't gotten round to bringing all the tags into line with the above. Any problems, questions or requests please feel free to post them here.
-
Well people I'm impressed. A few dedicated individual taggers have been beavering away in the background.
Check out the discographies (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=114&option=com_smf&action=tags;tagid=49) tag in particular. Someone has been on a mission to group all the references to Stefan Wirz's most excellent archiving project website. I won't mention any names for fear of embarrassing anyone, so rest assured, Bunker, your secret is safe with me.
To see the full tag index click on Tags (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?page=tagsvertical), either here or on the horizontal menu bar above. It's currently at nearly 420 distinct tags, grouping over 1300 topics.
I don't know about y'all but I've been surfing the tags a lot and as a result have been getting much more out of the weenie site. Thanks to all the taggers for helping to keep it stitched together. We have plans to roll out more functionality in this area at some point.
-
And thanks to you, Rivers, for keeping us on the straight and narrow path!
Alex
-
And thanks to you, Rivers, for keeping us on the straight and narrow path!
...and for saving me a fortune by keeping me out of the pub! Seriously this tagging thing is bringing to light so many interesting threads from way before my joining which I'd never have had the time, nor inclination, to spend hours using the "search forum" function on. It's also a good way for us "newbies" not to reinvent what's already been invented in terms of duplicating earlier discussion topics.
Keep up the good work Rivers and co.
-
Bunker has noticed the following forum software behavior relating to tags:
This relates to the message preview function and occurs when creating a new post. If you specify a tag or tags then preview the post, the tags are lost.
-
Mods, before you merge threads please delete all tags from the thread from which you're merging. There seems to be a minor database issue if you don't.
-
Could you clarify that directive, Rivers? When merging threads, must the tags be deleted from the thread that is the point of origin for the merger or the thread that is selected for merging? Sorry to be slow on this.
All best,
Johnm
-
Sorry, it wasn't too clear was it. Delete the tags from the point of origin. Then if necessary add the tags again to the target thread, if they're not already there.
-
Rivers I've tried tagging two of my posts of my tunes as Cheapfeet but they're not merging, coming up as two separate options, same spelling, in the Tags menu, thanks . . .
-
Please, please read the guidelines before tagging... I just cleaned up (among a dozen others) one post that had separate tags for 'blind', 'lemon', 'jefferson', 'slide', 'guitar', 'delta', 'blues'... ::)
Please click on the TAGS tab above to see what tags are really all about around here folks. And Thank you, very very much!
-
Perhaps it bears pointing out that tags are used differently here than, say, on youtube, where tags like those Riv mentioned above are common.
Thanks folks.
All for now.
John C.
-
Dang! Trying to Tag the Oscar Woods thread and I can't remember the proper punctuation for multiple Tags, and the info doesn't seem to be in the thread above. Riv, could you please add multiple Tag posting to your first post? Thanks.
All for now.
John C.
-
Nevermind, I see multiple Tags are only allowed on the original post. No info for that here either, I guess.
All for now.
John C.
-
Something has changed, didn't there used to be a tags entry box in the 'post reply' screen, or did I misremember that?
-
Close to a thousand tags: Total 976 tags in the system over 3015 topics, since around Jan/Feb 2007
I've been cleaning up a bit, trying to keep it reasonably tight. A lot of new posters who are used to tags on blog sites don't read our site's tag guidelines and it really shows sometimes! No big deal.
-
Argh!
If one of the moderators would like to put some tags to the waltz thread (if any are needed?), when and if time permits, I would very much appreciate it.
http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=128&topic=3475.0
I'm completely at loss, how to do this; who and what to choose, and who and what to leave out... :-\
Apoletigally yours,
Pan :P
-
That's a tricky one to tag, it aleady has a 'waltzes' tag so the decision is which artists to add. Can't add 'em all, too many. Plus they will show up in a search.
The guideline is to make sure there is enough content for the tag in the topic. So if somebody is listed a couple of times it's probably not a good candidate for a tag, and you'd have to do a search to find it.
I'll read through it, add anything that's more meaty than a name check, and keep an eye on it for future developments.
-
I'd go for the obvious candidates, the Mississippi Sheiks being the most obvious, and they're already tagged. Perhaps Leadbelly. I agree, too many artists to tag, so ferret out the waltziest of the bunch.
-
Yeah, Huddie would make it to tagdom in the thread, there is a bit of interesting "in the pines" chat in there and quite a few songs. It's mostly zillions of one- or two liners though.
-
Hi all,
I've been doing some maintenance of tags in the Lyrics board, and just wanted to point out that it is not helpful to tag threads in that board with the tag "lyrics", since the entire board is devoted to lyrics. It will work much better in terms of searching for an artist's lyrics if you simply tag the lyric thread with the name of the artist whose work is featured. Thanks!
All best,
John
-
And, just to reiterate guideline #1, in order to avoid duplication, rather than create a tag the way you think an artist's name might be spelled, (Charley or Charlie?) click on the Tag button at the top of the page, find the tag you want to use, and copy, back click and paste. This saves Mods a lot of housekeeping.
Can't find the tag you want to use? Please read Rivers first post on this thread for guidelines as to creating new tags.
Thanks,
Wax
-
Hi all,
Over the past several years, we've amassed quite a variety of performances on the Back Porch and in the Performance Corner. A number of Weenies have posted a good number of performances in one or the other, or both of those locations. It seems like it makes sense at this time, to suggest for people who have posted performances (only if they would care to) to tag the initial post for each one of the performances they've put up with the name they use to post on the Weenie Site.
Having people's performances tagged with their names will make it easier to locate all the performances by someone who has done a single performance that you've heard and really enjoyed. As things currently stand, you would have to go all the way through the Back Porch or Performance Corner Boards to locate all of an individual's performances. With the performances tagged, it will be possible to find all of the threads containing a player's performances just by clicking on the tag at the end of one performance or by going to the TAGS menu.
Once again, this tagging of performances is purely on a voluntary basis, but for those of you who are interested in doing it, it will create an easier access to those performances you spent some time and effort putting together. For further information on tagging guidelines, go to Rivers' first two posts at the beginning of this thread. Thanks.
All best,
Johnm
-
It seems like it makes sense at this time, to suggest for people who have posted performances (only if they would care to) to tag the initial post for each one of the performances they've put up with the name they use to post on the Weenie Site.
A small observation. There's currently a TAG of 'Frankie' covering Frankie & Albert/Johnny discussions etc. There's also a Frankie member who posts performances. Perhaps the existing tag should be renamed.
-
Now had the vanity to tag my performances on the back porch.
Trouble is I'm now going to have to spend the rest of the day checking out some of the great weenie performances there that I'd forgotten about.
-
Hi all,
Bunker Hill, I think the "Frankie" issue is easily solved. The song title tag can be kept as is, and if the frankie who posts performances cares to tag his performances, his "nom de net" is a lower case "frankie", so I think that will work out okay.
Thanks for tagging your performances, Phil. I hope other folks will follow your suit. It will make it easier to find everyone's performances.
All best,
Johnm
-
Hmm. I went back to a thread a started in the Back Porch called Georgia Blues (on page 5 or 6, I think) and attempted to do this but there was no tag field there after I hit modify. Any suggestions or am I missing something?
-
Hi Chris,
My suggestion of where to tag was faulty. What you need to do is go to the last post in any page of a thread (however many pages the thread has), and following that last post on a page you will see an "Add tag" option at the bottom left below the last post. You can put your name in there. Sorry for any confusion.
All best,
Johnm
-
Ah, that worked fine, John -- thanks! I'll go back and add them.
Chris
-
Question, I think we need a tag for "famous lines" such as "Well, there ain?t no use in me working so hard, got me two good women workin' in a rich mans yard". These, and discussions thereof, crop up all the time and we need to be tagging them.
"Famous lines" is pretty lame but I'm drawing a blank. Any suggestions? In internet speak they could be called "memes of the 1920's". Or something. They are definitely an ancient example of memes, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme
Maybe I answered my own question, maybe the tag should be "memes".
-
OK no objections lodged, I'm tagging those items with "memes"
-
OK no objections lodged, I'm tagging those items with "memes"
Aw, missed the deadline. I would personally register dislike of "meme", which I find sounds like academic jargon. In fact, if we look at some recent academic activity on blues lyrics like that done by Robert Springer or Michael Taft (at least from memory), "formula" is the term they use. Springer writes, "In the blues, a formula will normally consist of a line, often line A of the rhymed couplet in the twelve-bar blues, to which a B line is fitted. The line may be cut in half, leaving two hemistichs which can themselves function as formulas and may be reversed or recombined with others. Complete two-line formulas are often referred to as floating verses, but I'll use the term formula whatever its length. A formula, in essence, as it is repeated and reused, becomes part of the genre's storehouse or library, so to speak, and is absorbed into the tradition." - From "On the Electronic Trail of Blues Formulas", Robert Springer
I like formula because it is plainer language, easily understood. A longer version is lyric formulas.
-
Ok works for me, easy to change later, I'm at airport typing on worlds smallest keybrd
-
The Tags Index is currently not working for reasons as yet unknown. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.
-
Normal tag index (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?page=tagsindex) service has resumed. The new improved juke block was causing the problem, reasons TBD. Reverted to the original juke block for the time being.
-
Previous problem fixed, new juke box now plays happily with tags index.
Tags index now includes a visual cue when the letter of the alphabet changes, check it out: http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?page=tagsindex (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?page=tagsindex)
Hopefully it feels less like you're awash in an ocean of tags when scrolling through. Also it's now six columns wide instead of five to shorten the page. Please holler if that's a problem on your display.
We've also majorly reconfigured from where it's stored and executed, but that's under-the-hood stuff to make it easier to administer and upgrade in future.
And sorry to nag but please review the tag usage guidelines in the first post on this thread (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=3073.msg24088#msg24088). We get some that are quirky and not real useful, given what this site is all about, and it takes time to clean them up so the tags index remains useful to the maximum number of weenies. Thank you very much! ;)
-
that looks neat and tidy, Rivers (on Safari 5) good job!
-
Thanks for the feedback Gumbo. We've been testing everything on multiple browsers after realizing Chrome & Safari had a problem with weeniepedia due to a bug in the latter, now fixed.
-
There's an experimental version of the tags index available in demo mode. It's sorted alphabetically, but down the page, not across it.
Take a look and let us know whether you find it easier to read than the current one. Link to the demo is here:
http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?page=tagsindex (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?page=tagsindex)
-
Hi,
I do prefer down the page, as in the experiment.
All best,
Johnm
-
I've switched us over to the new vertical tag index.
-
Looks great, nice work Rivers!
-
Yes, that is super easy to read and use. Well done, Rivers!
All best,
Johnm
-
Thanks guys. It was fun to code.
-
Bunker Hill pointed out that the 'discographies' tag results were going over five pages, and the sequence was kind of meaningless, by most recent topic, descending. This made it hard to find things.
So we've bumped the number of results up from max 25 per page to max 300. This means the entire discographies tag list now fits on one page.
We've also changed the ordering to be alphabetical, since it makes more sense for the way we use tags.
One last little fix, previously it would display the topic starter's user name. If the member had gone into their profile and changed their name at some point later it would not display that change, instead displaying the original one. So topics started by Ghostrider now show Ghostrider, not his old name 'pyrochlore'.
Some lines show a blank member. These are long gone members. I'll see if I can get it to show their name anyway.
Check it out: http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?option=com_smf&action=tags;tagid=49 (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?option=com_smf&action=tags;tagid=49)
-
Hi all,
When tagging a topic, please do not try to convert a sentence describing your post into single-word tags, e.g., I [tag] am [tag] fingerpicking [tag] a [tag] blues [tag] here [tag]. If you're tagging a performance post, it is perfectly fine to tag it with your own name--it makes sense, in fact, especially if you post a fair number of performances. That way people can easily find any of your performances by going to the tags. It also makes sense to add a tag with the name of the performer whose song you're covering, if your performance is a cover. Please do not tag anything with "blues". On a blues site, tagging a post "blues" is no help at all.
All best,
Johnm
-
Amen John, thanks for pointing that out. Tagging on wc.com is not like other places.
A lot of folks need to read the start of this thread (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=3073.0). Usually it's new members, or members who don't visit that often and fly in to post occasionally.
Tags like 'guitar', 'fingerpicking', 'blues', 'awesome', 'country blues', and other equally redundant or quirky items routinely get blown away when one of the tag mods spots them. It's tedious, we're tryin' to build a useful index here.
-
After looking for something in Spanish to tackle and not finding the thread immediately I tagged all the 'Adventures in ...' tuning threads to group them together. Tag is 'Adventures in ...', click this to see them: http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?option=com_smf&action=tags;tagid=3613
If I missed some please tag them. There's a space before the three dots in 'Adventures in ...'
-
After looking for something in Spanish to tackle and not finding the thread immediately I tagged all the 'Adventures in ...' tuning threads to group them together. Tag is 'Adventures in ...', click this to see them: http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?option=com_smf&action=tags;tagid=3613
If I missed some please tag them. There's a space before the three dots in 'Adventures in ...'
Wonderful! Thank you, Rivers!
Since the search function doesn't approve single letters, I've been frustrated many times, trying to find "blues in F", for example! :)
Cheers
Pan
-
Glad that was useful... in the same vein I added the (already existing) SOTM tag to all the untagged SOTM threads, take a look at the impressive body of work accumulating there: http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?option=com_smf&action=tags;tagid=3488
I included your Hesitation/Hesitating Blues thread Pan since, as Johnm noted, you kind of anticipated the SOTM idea, and frankie put a name to it and got it rolling.
-
Hi all,
Please do not add hash tags to the tags you add to topics. When you do that, the tag will sort by hash tag rather than topic, which defeats the purpose of tagging. Thanks.
All best,
Johnm
-
Hash tags on weenie! Hilarious! Offenders, report for deprogramming immediately. :P
-
Speaking of hash tags. I was talking with my son's violin teacher one time about a guy who wanted to know what key a piece was in when it had three hash tags. Not sure he was joking or not.
-
I suppose that # has probably gone from primarily being used or thought of as a number and/or pound sign ("press the pound sign") to a hashtag based on frequency of use. The sharp sign ♯ is visually distinct, but similar enough that given the (social) media saturation, it was only a matter of time. ♭♭♭